Tuesday, November 25, 2008

What’s good? What’s bad? Its all how we look at it isn’t it? Its all how we choose to look at things.This is something that we are looking at in these past and next few weeks. How do we use this powerful thing we call our mind? Do we use it to panic or to pray? To focus on what is not working, or on what is?

What we pay attention to – expands.

Stop your mind sometime and look at where your thoughts have been. Its scary sometimes. Since working more consciously with the Law of Attraction I have thought to myself – now there was a whole lot of time spend focusing on something I do NOT want more of.

Our minds are so incredible – imaginative and creative. They are active – really going all the time aren’t they? Perhaps stopping for mediation and or sleep is gthe only time they are still.

We are surrounded by information – input all the time. Whether it is listening to the radio or TV, overhearing a conversation on the bus, talking to your friend on the phone…….all this information coming towards us.

Ask yourself – what is my selection process for deciding what comes in and what doesn’t? Do you have one? Or do you let everything you are exposed to and surrounded by – just come in? I like to envision my mind as a home. If I leave all the doors and windows open, everything comes in without screening. If I don’t choose, everything stays in – and that’s when all hell breaks loose. My positive hopeful ideas and running into my discouraging helpless thoughts. So much friction. so much tension. a little war zone – all in here.

When all this quarrelling is going on – I have leaned to stop myself and reflect – am I trying to hold opposing beliefs in the same household? Am I trying to be loving and angry at the same time? Appreciative and defensive? No wonder there is all this …craziness.

The good news is – we get to choose! It is our household! It is our mind! no one else is going to come in and do the housecleaning! only we can do it. And we might want ot look at doing that routinely.

Now the other thing I have learned about this mental housecleaning is that – slowly does it. Running around sweeping and brooming makes a lot of dust and mess.

So as you are looking into your interior household – see what needs to be shown the door and gently escort it out. There is no need for pushing and fighting. You let it in – you can let it out. without condemnation, without judgment, with patience and kindness – just show it the door.

This is not thought control – that implies work and resistance. It is simply guiding or allowing these thoughts to pass out of our field of attention.

“And when you see those things that you are not wanting in your experience, do not talk about them, do not write about them, do not push against them." Esther Hicks – Abraham

“Remove your attention from the things that you do not want while you give your undivided attention to the things you do want.”

So often we are focusing or thinking about the things we do not want…..

The more energy we focus on something the bigger it becomes. Our attention ADDS power to it, not lessens it. Have you ever tried to untangle a knotted show lace and the harder you wrestle with it the worse it gets?

So we have a choice. What do we want to focus on – poverty? disaster? world peace? joy?

So how do we take what we hear or read about it live with it. Because we are surrounded by “bad news”. I am not saying – don’t read the papers, don’t know what is going on in the world.

Yes we need to be informed – but do we need to watch the same newclip over and over again – of suffering and disaster. of violence and people hurting each other.

Yes I understand that there is war in this world. And I even know where it is happening. How do I want to feel when I direct my attention there? Hopeless, angry?

The word is focus - how do we use our thoughts and feelings?

This is where Unity I think has a great gift ot offer – a new way to focus our attention. This is how Unity affirmative prayer works. We focus our loving attention on the situation. We see the Light and Love of God expanding in that situation. In every situation we know that God is there – our First Principle.

Every week our Prayer Team receives your prayer requests. The Prayer Team does not focus on the problems, the illness, the lack. It hold the person in the Light – seeing God and all that God is – surrounding the situation.

Let’s try that – right now…………….bring something to your mind that has been worrying you. Something that when you think of it – your heart dips, the energy goes down.

When you become practiced in this – you can do it any time – all the time.

Its shifting our inner attention away from one thing to another -You know what this is called? repentance.

re-thinking. We have this power – no one else does. No one can make us – only we – each one of us can do that for ourselves.